This informal sketch-like view of Chichester Cathedral from the south west is one of twenty or so watercolours on cards bought by Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851) at the posthumous sale of his and Girtin’s patron Dr Thomas Monro (1759–1833) (Christie’s, 26 June 1833, lots 81 and 82). They now form part of the Turner Bequest at Tate Britain, where the majority of them are attributed to Girtin. The watercolours, all painted on card measuring roughly 3 × 4 ¾ in (7.6 × 12.1 cm), were mainly executed around 1795–96 after a set of outline drawings of antiquarian subjects which Girtin copied from the sketches of his first significant patron, the amateur artist and antiquarian James Moore (1762–99). The outline drawing used by Girtin as the basis for the watercolour is not amongst the forty or so examples also in the Turner Bequest, though it may have been the untraced pencil sketch of Chichester Cathedral that was sold as by Turner in 1922 and again in 1935 (Sotheby’s, 28 November 1922, lot 140; Sotheby’s, 4 April 1935, lot 118). Moore toured widely in Sussex and produced numerous sketches, many of which Girtin worked up as watercolours, but no Chichester subjects have been identified and, indeed, it is not clear that he ever actually depicted the cathedral. It may therefore be that Girtin turned to his master, Edward Dayes (1763–1804), for the source for his drawing; certainly he did not visit the west Sussex coast himself. A large watercolour by Dayes of a similar view of the cathedral from the south west is known (sold at Sotheby’s, 22 March 1979, lot 93), but if one of his compositions was the model it would in all probability have been in the form of a small outline drawing or monochrome sketch. Monro’s collection contained more than a hundred ‘Coloured sketches of antiquities and buildings’ by Dayes (Christie’s, 1 July 1833, lots 36–40), from which Girtin might have made an outline drawing. That drawing, in turn, could have formed the basis of this watercolour, and this process no doubt took place at the patron’s house at the Adelphi in London.

It is possible that Monro may have had a publication in mind when he commissioned Girtin to produce small-scale watercolours such as this, but their rapid, even careless execution and sketch-like appearance, suggesting that the work was made on the spot, indicate an altogether different kind of commodity. Indeed, the subjects that were chosen for this informal sketch-like treatment do not follow any obvious pattern, either by geography or building type, that might have made for a thematically unified publication. It may be that there is nothing that unites the group other than that Girtin’s outlines after the sketches of Moore and Dayes provided a ready resource from which sketch-like watercolours might be rapidly produced.

The paper is discoloured as a result of excessive exposure to light whilst on long-term exhibition. The differently toned areas (top, left and right) were protected by an earlier mount.